An End to Corrosion
by Unseen Lurker
Summary: They had turned on him. They had destroyed what he had worked for. They thought him dead. But he had not died. And when he is given a second chance, what is a monster to do?
1. Chapter 1

_Howdy folks, Unseen Lurker here. I've been reading stories on this site for years now, and during that time I've thought up quite a few story ideas, but only now did I decide to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I decided to start with this one for a few reasons:_

_1) I've got a general outline of what i'm going to write, excluding a few blanks here and there._

_2) To my great surprise, this kind of crossover has never been done before, so I figured I might as well start with something new._

_So, without further ado, I give you the prologue chapter of my first story, An end to corrosion, enjoy._

_Oh wait, the disclaimers... my first time doing them...ok, here goes..._

_I own neither of the series featured in this story._

_There, now on with it._

**The Blind Eternities**.

This is a space between the planes of the Multiverse, a place where the roiling magical energies of the _Aether _reigned supreme, a realm of pure chaos in which few beings could hope to survive, the most hostile environment in existence, and yet it's in this realm that our story begins.

Or more specifically, with a particular being that was now being helplessly battered and flung around by the magical currents.

Only the fabled Planeswalkers and other Godlike beings can safely traverse this space, and none but the mythical Eldrazi could linger here, but this creature was no such thing. No, it had once been a powerful ruler, one of the five conquerors of a recently dominated Plane, but it had dared to show qualities that were considered flaws, heresies against the very philosofy of its people.

It had dared to show indepent thought, and a small measure of mercy.

For that, it had been deemed a traitor.

For that, it's realm had been razed, it's subjects, and those it had shown mercy to, slaughtered.

For that, powerful sorcery had been used to erase it from the world, and it's brethren thought it dead, a blemish on their kind removed.

They were mistaken.

It had merely been banished, but the place where it found itself in was as good as a death sentence, and in all counts it shouldn't have survived.

But by the whims of the Multiverse, the Aether did not tear it apart, magic did not obliterate it.

In a circunstance rarer even than the awakening of a Planeswalker's spark, Death did not claim it.

And in it's place?

Change.

The being started growing smaller, it's claws, teeth and tail receding.

Metal, flame, oil and necrotic tissue became skin, blood and living flesh, organs long since shriveled or removed grew anew.

Eyes, ears, nose, a face appeared where there once was none.

The being could only scream as its body was wracked with agonizing pain.

But as quickly as it began, the agony faded, as the being was flung back into a world not his own.

Will he become a conqueror once more?

Or will he choose a different path?

**Earthland, in the limits of the island of the Tower of Heaven**

Marcus hated being stuck with patrol duty.

I mean, seriously, what was the point? None of the slaves were stupid enough to try to make a break for it, and no one outside knew they were here. He half-suspected he was only doing this because he had somehow pissed off the cultmaster.

Well, at least he had good view, what with the beach, the sea, the moon, the stars, the meteor heading in his direction...

Wait, what?

The cultist did a double take, and indeed, there was a ball of fire incoming and it was falling fast, so he did the sensible thing and ran like hell, just barely clearing the area of impact, and even then being launched in the air by the shockwave.

-"huugh, what the...?"- The cultist grumbled, face down in the sand.

-"Marcus, ya still breathing?"- He looked up to see his pal Levin and a few others, doubtlessly they had noticed the meteor and been sent to investigate.

-"Yeah, barely..."- He answered as he stood.

-"You're lucky to be alive, mate, not everyday ya get to run for your life from a bloody meteor!"-

-"Hey, There's something in there!"-

They gathered at the edges of the crater, and one of them used wind magic to blow away the dust.

They expected some remnant of rock, so naturally they were quite surprised by what they saw.

-"Holy shit..."-

-"Is he still alive?"-

-"Yes, he is. How the hell did he even get here?"-

-"Who cares?"- The leader of the search grinned at the object of their surprise-"The heavens themselves are providing us with labor for our grand work. It is a sign from Lord Zeref, our cause will prevail!"- He yelled, to the cheers of the gathered cultists-"Take him to the cells, a new life awaits our little friend..."-

**The** **slave's cells**

Rob woke up to the sound of incoming footsteps.

He frowned, it was the middle of the night, the slavers should leave them alone for a few more hours, so why where they coming?

-"Old man Rob, what's happening?"- A frightened female voice asked. The old man looked at the young red-headed girl and the other children that had also been awakened by the noise, smiled reassuringly, and whispered:

-"Don't worry, Erza, I'm sure it's just one of the slavers passing by..."-

He grew quiet as he noticed a cultist opening the celldoor, carrying something over his shoulder.

-"Good news, brats. We found a new friend for you to play with!"-

He roughly dropped his cargo on floor, closed the gate and left, laughing all the while. Rob and the children approached, and thanks to the corridor's torchlight, they found a strange sight.

A child.

A child, no older than them, with pale skin and brownish red hair, which seemed to have a strange, metallic sheen, layed unconscious before them. He had an androgynous appearance, but the fact that he was butt naked left no doubts about his gender.

-"Bloody hell... Children, find some rags for our new friend here."- The old man said, as he and the blushing redhead moved forward and looked for any signs of injuries, only to find nothing, seemed like the kid was just passed out.

Erza looked at his face, sadly wondering who he was and where he came from, and then gasped in suprise as his eyes opened.

They were a dull, lifeless grey, with no visible irises or scleras.

With a slow, mechanic movement, the boy sat up. Then he stood still, his face showing no expression, his eyes staring nowhere but forward, and still everyone around felt an odd sensation of being watched. Rob smiled kindly:

-"Good to see you' re awake kid, are you feeling alright?"- He felt the sensation of someone's gaze upon him intensify, and has the boy tilted his head lightly to the side while still looking forward, he couldn't help but feel he was somehow being analyzed, until the kid spoke:

-"Where... am I?"- The words came slowly, as if he was testing them, and his voice was monotone, raspy, like it hadn't been used in ages.

-"You're... in the Tower of Heaven, kid."- came the sad answer-"A place we are very unlucky to be in... but I'll explain later. What's your name, kid? Where are you from?"-The boy's face scrunched up in confused concentration, it would've looked adorable, if he didn't have such a...strange aura about him:

-"I...don't know."-

-"What do you mean?"- The Redhead by his side asked, as the sensation of being watched increased and made her fidget nervously..

-"I do not remember."-

-"You don't remeber anything? Anything at all?"- The concerned old man asked.

The boy's face once again comically scrunched up, and through the haze filling his mind, a name appeared.

His name.

-"Urabrask...my name...is Urabrask..."

_And scene._

_So what ya guys think? Love it? Hate it? All feedback will be welcomed._

_I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can, so cya later guys._


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey guys, here I am with the second chapter of An End to Corrosion. I reread this thing a few times, should be relatively error free, so I hope you guys like it._

_Disclaimer: I own neither Magic the Gathering nor Fairy Tail._

**The Tower of Heaven**

As the broken, disheartened slaves toiled under the unforgiving sun and the ever watchful eyes of their opressors, Rob couldn't help but keep his own eyes on the young children working together to push a massive block of stone that even adults would find themselves hard-pressed to move. Or more precisely, only one of them was actually moving it, the others merely pretending in order to both get a small reprieve from work and avoid their captors' wrath.

Jellal, the blue-haired boy with a red tattoo over his right eye, seemed to be the leader of this little group, his kind nature and his refusal to give in to the despair of their bleak situation naturally drawing the reserved Erza, the calm Simon, the nervous Wally, and the younger Sho and Milliana to him. Not for the first time Rob thought sadly that no child should be ever be put in this situation.

And then there was Urabrask, the one who was moving the block with hardly any effort.

Urabrask... a strange name for a strange kid, Rob honestly had no idea what to make of him.

The cultists claimed that he was the cause for that crater on the West side of the island, a gift from Lord Zeref fallen from the skies. With his unnatural strenght and endurance, he had quickly proven himself to be a very efficient worker, often performing tasks alone that groups of adults couldn't. Rob still remembered the shock in everyone's faces when these traits had been made manifest...

_Flashback_

_It was early in the day, and under the shadow of the unfinished tower, the slaves were being assigned to different areas of the construction site by the taskmaster. Every single one of them had somber, resigned looks, except for Urabrask, who despite not even moving his head, still seemed to somehow be watching his surroundings with detached curiosity._

"_And today, you kids will be moving these blocks to the cranes, so they can be taken to the upper levels. Get to it!" The fat, robed man accompanied his shout with a snap of the whip._

_The children had started moving towards their objective, when Erza noticed the other redhead still hadn't moved, so she hastily approached and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, come don't want to anger the taskmaster, and we shouldn't keep the others waiting"._

_The boy gave no response other than following her to the others, who were at this point having a small problem._

"_This thing won't budge!" Wally exclaimed quietly as the children strained against the block that dwarfed them all with no visible results, eventually being forced to give up._

"_Did they honestly think we could move this thing?" Simon wondered aloud, a scowl on his face. Young Sho and Milliana were starting to get teary-eyed, fearing what would happen when the slavers noticed their lack of progress._

"_Stand aside." This statement actually caused most of them to jump in fright before giving the speaker a surprised look. Urabrask hadn't spoken a word since he had first been dropped in their cell, ignoring all the questions that had been tossed his way. They couldn't help but comply, but Jellal still tried to reason with the guy._

"_It's no use man, this thing is too big, there's no way we could..."_

_The words died in his mouth as he watched the other boy grab the block and push it forward with frightening ease. A bit further down the path, the redhead stopped and stated to the wide eyed kids in his usual monotone. "You might want to at least pretend you're helping me. I don't think the robed ones take kindly to inaction."_

_That spurred them into action as they took positions all around the block. And so for a while they repeated the process of "dragging" the boulders to the cranes, until..._

"_It's collapsing! Look out!"_

_The children, minus Urabrask, looked in the direction of the scream only to see one of the tower's pillars falling towards them. They immediately made a run for it, but unfortunately one of them tripped on a pebble during their mad dash for safety._

"_Erza!" her friends cried out in alarm._

_The girl turned, and realizing it was too late to escape, just closed her eyes and waited for the end._

_But it never came._

_Realizing it was taking too long, Erza slowly opened her eyes, and what she saw made her jaw drop._

_Standing atop the block they had been moving, Urabrask was holding the pillar with the same ease he had had with said task. And then with a small grunt of effort, he had jumped down, carried it back to it's foundations and placed it upright, while all around him, slaves and slavers alike watched with thoroughly shocked expressions..._

_Flashback end_

That event had just about confirmed the cultists' beliefs, but at the same time earned the boy the gratitude of the slaves, both for saving the girl's life and for lightening their workload, as well as cemented his place in the little ragtag group of children, who refused to leave his side since.

But his surprising physical prowess and capacity to "see without looking" were not the only strange things about the boy.

For one, on the first time food had been brought to him, Urabrask had no idea what the stuff was, much less what was he supposed to do with it, it was like he had never eaten in his life, and a baffled Rob had been forced to give him a step-by-step explanation on how to eat.

Then there was the fact that, while he seemed to be perfectly aware of the concepts of male and female, he did not have a clue of what that entailed on a physical level. The girls still glared at him from time to time because of that particular incident.

And let's not forget about the whole... bathroom business debacle...

Seriously, what were you supposed to say to a kid when he sneaked up on you when you where doing your business and asked why were you leaking coolant at an alarming rate?

Because Rob sure as hell didn't know.

To the old man, all of these things just didn't make sense, and from time to time, made him wonder whether the grey eyed redhead was truly human...

But then he decided that it didn't really matter, and that while the kid was somewhat anti-social and apathetic, he had been nothing but helpful to them.

He just needed to make sure the boy had a proper notion of right and wrong.

/

"Damn, Red. Whatever they fed you back where you came from, wherever that is, I want some." Simon said, while grinning at the redhead as he finished pushing yet another block.

"My name is Urabrask. And I don't believe I've ever eaten before coming to this place."

came the monotone reply. Wally joined in: "I still have a hard time believing that. And we know that's your name, dude, he was just using a nickname."

"I fail to see the purpose of such a thing."

"It's simple, Red, we just call you this because we consider you a friend." Jellal explained as they went about their duties.

"A...friend?" The word was spoken haltingly, it seemed new to him. "What does that mean?".

The others looked at each other. At this point, they were no strangers to Urabrask's ignorance of things considered common knowledge, so it didn't really come as a surprise, but it still made them wonder just what kind of place had he come from.

If only they knew.

"Urabrask, friend is what people who like, trust and enjoy each other's company call each other. It means that we trust you, that we will be there when you need our help and that we know you would do the same" Erza explained patiently and kindly, she and the old man had pretty much become the other redhead's tutors when it came to these things.

"Friends..." The boy muttered to himself as he processed the explanation. It was easy enough to understand, but the concept sounded so... alien to him. Then something else came to mind:"Then why do they not call you the same? Your hair is redder than..."

"Hey, you little bitch, get up!"

The shout was followed by a pained cry, and the children turned to face a sadly common ocurrence. A girl was fallen on the ground, the heavy bag of gravel beside her making it obvious that she had collapsed from exhaustion. She was about their age, had white wing tattoos in the colar-bone area, and light, bluish white hair.

White, for some reason Urabrask greatly disliked the color.

Standing over the girl was one of the cultists, his whip at the ready.

"I said, Get up!" The whip cracked once more, and the girl could only cry out in pain and huddle up in a vain attempt to protect herself.

All around the slaves could only watch, ashamed of their inability to help the poor girl.

All but one.

Urabrask watched, and as he saw this opression, saw the fear and despair radiating of her, saw the helplessness everyone around felt, something inside of him stirred. He did not comprehend it, but nonetheless it made him take action.

/

In pain and terrified, there were no other words to describe how Angel was feeling right now. She knew full well that no one could do anything to help her. She knew that if this kept going on, she would be dragged off like the others before her and never be seen from again. And so in her helpless state, she prayed, prayed for the pain to stop, prayed that she wouldn't die, prayed that someone, anyone, would save her.

Her prayers were answered.

Just as the man prepared for another strike, something caught the whip. He turned, and to his surprise, found that that something was a certain grey eyed, redheaded kid who had been causing quite a stir around the island, a deep scowl in his usually blank face.

"What do you think you're doing, brat?" He asked with a dangerous edge in his voice.

"That's enough." This reply, short and simple, caused everyone's eyes to widen in shock. But the slaver's suprise quickly turned to anger.

"What!? Who do you think you are, you little bastard! Maybe you could use a little disciplining too."

He tried to pry the whip free, but Urabrask merely pulled and the cultist was sent tumbling torwards him, only to be met by the boy's fist and sent flying backwards, hitting the ground hard.

"I am Urabrask." Was the ever monotone reply.

Angel watched in awe. Someone cared, someone was actually helping her. For the first time in a long time, she felt a small measure of hope.

But then the boy fell limply to the ground as a strong electrical current surged trough him, and behind him stood the round, robed figure of the taskmaster.

"What's this, then? Rebellion? Now, that's just not right." He said casually, even as he shocked the kid one more time, only for the boy to give no reaction, no change in demeanour other than a deepening of his scowl, much to his annoyance.

"You know, kid, we have been quite lenient with you because of your effiency, but this behaviour is something that we just cannot overlook. Like my business associate said, a little disciplining is in order." He turned to the other cultist, who had just gotten up and was clutching his injured stomach:"Take the boy to catacombs, and show him what happens to those who would abuse our goodwill."

"With pleasure" The seething cultist replied, an evil grin on his face.

And as they dragged off the paralyzed boy, a horrified Angel could do nothing but watch, fear and concern for him evident on her face.

**The slaves' cells**

After Urabrask had been taken away, his friends and Old man Rob had aproached the frightened young girl, and after making sure she wasn't seriously injured, they sticked together for the rest of the day, and when the slaves were taken to the cells, she had ended up in theirs, aware that it was also the cell of the boy who saved her, and probably were he would be taken to if he had survived, which she fervently hoped he had.

A few hours later, they all heard approaching footsteps, and soon a cultist appeared dragging their friend.

"Hope you learned your lesson, brat" he said while harshly dropping the kid on the floor "Next time, we won't be so nice about it."

The words were spiteful, but Rob did not miss the frustration behind them, and as Urabrask rose, he understood why. The boy, quite frankly, was a mess. From his neck down to his waist, his body was riddled with cuts and lacerations, some people would have died of bloodloss alone with wounds like this, and yet he showed absolutely no sign of pain or disconfort. The Old man was gobsmacked. Did the cultists actually give up "disciplining" the boy due to his lack of reaction?

His musings were interrupted as the other kids rushed toward the boy, asking a multitude of questions about his well being.

"There is no need for concern, I am fine."

"But Urabrask, your wounds..." Erza said, looking them over with worry.

"They are superficial at worst, easily fixable."

"But doesn't it hurt?" a frightened Sho asked.

"The pain will cease soon enough."

Now that just plain wasn't right, what the hell had this kid been put trough?

"Hhhmm..." A nervous Angel tried to speak. Her saviour wasn't looking at her, but still she felt herself being watched by him, something that confused her somewhat.

"Yes?"

"M-my name is Angel... and I'm s-s-sorry that I caused this..." she stared sadly at his injuries, tears threatening to flow."I'm sorry I was s-s-so... useless..."

"I did what I did of my own volition, you have nothing to be apologetic for".

The kids blinked in confusion, while Rob chuckled:"He means that he helped you because he wanted to, lass, and you got nothing to be sorry about".

"That's what I said."

"Yeah, well, most kids your age don't speak like that, so you kinda confused them."

"I see..."

"T-t-thank you..." was all a very relieved Angel could say, as she gave a timid smile.

"Ok, kids, give me some space, will you? I need to tend to his wounds and make sure nothing gets infected."

The kids complied, though Angel and Erza did so reluctantly. Rob chuckled again, seemed that the resident one-man building crew had gained some admirers.

And as he started to mend the boy's injuries as best as he could, the Old man noticed another oddity about Urabrask.

Perhaps it was just a trick of the poor lighting, but his blood seemed very dark, nearly black.

_And so ends the second chapter. _

_My vision's coming to life!_

_Was that a bit too melodramatic?_

_Anyway, if anyone has any questions, suggestions or other such things to give, please, don't be shy, I could really use some input here._

_See you guys in the next one._


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hi, guys, how's it going?**_

_**I'm sorry it took me this long to update, I don't really have an excuse, life just gets in the way sometimes. But I assure you, I intend to see this story trough to the end.**_

_**Now, to answer some of the reviews:**_

_**Varus the Shadow Sage: I'm glad you liked it, pal, and I hope it lives up to your expectations :) .**_

_**thelonewander117: I recommend you go to the Magic the Gathering website and search trough the archives for A planeswalker's guide to New Phyrexia,should explain quite a few things. And you are right, Machine soul sounds badass, but something like that already exists in Fairy Tail in the form of Machina Soul, much less badass sounding. I have something else in mind for his powers, but machines will definitly be involved.**_

_**Graybiel: And that is exactly what makes Urabrask one of my favorite MTG characters m8. One of the most monstrous looking in a race of killing machines, and yet by far the most humane. About chapter length, it will fluctuate a bit, but at the very least it will be on the 1500-2000 words range (this one has 3716 words, a small compensation for taking so long.) As to whether he will have fairy tail-esque magic, well... read on ;).**_

_**I do not own Magic the Gathering, Fairy Tail, or any other series that might be referenced.**_

_**Now, on with the show!**_

After the incident, Urabrask's rebellious actions and survival elevated him even more in the eyes of the other slaves. Angel was almost instantly considered a member of their little group, the quiet and shy girl being somewhat overwhelmed at first, not used to all the friendly interaction, and much to the amusement of Rob and some other adults, never straying too far from her saviour. She was actually the one that discovered, during a particularly cold night, that the boy was abnormally warm, which led every child in the cell to snuggle up to him in an effort to fight off the biting cold.

And so time went on, with the gang toiling hard during the day, and during the night, Rob would entertain them with stories of his adventures as a mage from the Fairy Tail guild, always patiently answering Urabrask's queries about concepts like how did magic work, what was the purpose of such adventures, and what was family supposed to be.

But then one day, while they were working on the underground foundations of the tower, Sho found a small, hidden tunnel. Intrigued by this discovery he revealed his findings to the others later that night, some of the older slaves claiming the tunnel had been used by some of them in an unsucessful attempt to escape years before the children had even got to the tower, and from there the group had an idea. During the following weeks the children made it so they would be working in the tunnels everyday, and as they took note of the tunnels location, the shifts of the guard and the slave's curfews, that idea became a full-fledged plan to escape the dreadful place. Finally, the plan was put into action.

It was not sucessful.

/

"Oh kids... what am I going to do with you?" The taskmaster said with a sigh, as he looked at the captives in front of him. The children were all on the ground, bruised, arms bound and surrounded by his fellow cultists. The younger brats, the girls and the skinny kid were terrified, the other two boys had somber but defiant looks on their faces, and Urabrask... Urabrask was still struggling against the blue glowing shackles and chains. He had been by far the most difficult upstart to subdue, seriously injuring six of them and only really stopping when they had threatened to kill the others.

´Good thing we went the extra mile and got those special bindings...´ the man mused "Quit struggling kid, those chains were made to bind the nastiest monsters out there. The more you move, the harder it will be to do so." The boy answered with a growl, fitting really. "Anyway, trying to escape, were you? Thought you could give us the slip? The ones who made that tunnel also thought so. We never found out which tunnel they used till today, guess we should be thankful you found it for us, but we did catch them as they made for the docks, fed them to the guard-beasts."

Sho, Milliana and Wally whimpered.

"But since this is the first time you tried something like this, this is what we are going to do. Tell me who's the one respondible for this... daring escape attempt, and only that one will be punished, the others will only get a slap on the wrist. Ain't I a nice guy?" The man finished with a fake friendly smile.

A tense silence followed. Sho started tearing up, this was all his fault, if he spoke, the others would be safe, but he couldn't, he was far too afraid.

"Not speaking? Come on, last chance."

"It was me." Everybody stared at speaker, who had stopped struggling and returned to staring forward with an expressionless face, the slavers curious and the children both surprised and worried. Urabrask was once again not quite sure what led him to say that, but he felt compelled to rid his… friends, of the dread they were currently feeling. "I am the one who planned this."

The taskmaster wouldn't really be surprised if that was the case, the kid had grown subtly and increasingly rebellious of late, but that left him with a bit of problem, because most punishments they had in store for upstart slaves would be little more than a waste of time if used on him, hell, the guy who handled the "disciplining" had been depressed since the session with the brat, sometimes they even heard him sobbing about "failures" and "ruined careers".

So there was pretty much nothing they could do to the kid, but he couldn't just let the brats walk away with this, so with that in mind...

The man looked over the other kids, and then mover until he was in front of Erza.

"This one's the real mastermind, isn't she?"

The girl's eyes widened in terror, along with the others, as the man picked her up. Urabrask's began struggling again, put it was no use. The shackles wouldn't budge.

"Let her go! It wasn't her!" Jellal tried to help her, but was quickly kicked to the ground.

"Guys... please stop. It's alright... It'll be okay." Erza tried to smile, to put on a brave face, but everyone could see that she was terrified.

" Take the girl to the catacombs, and the kids back to the cell. No food for three days."

Once again, the children could only watch helplessly as one of their own was dragged off.

**The slaves' cells**

Later that night, Urabrask was still trying to break free from those Father-forsaken chains. Jellal had managed to blindside one of the guards and leave the cell not too long ago, so desperate to help Erza he didn't even listen Urabrask's calls to release him.

And so the children and old man Rob could do nothing but wait, until finally the cell door opened, and Erza came stumbling in.

"Erza!" Sho and Angel immediately rushed to her, only to gasp in horror at the girl's beaten up body and eye-patch covering her missing right eye. And when they realized that Jellal had probably taken her place, it proved too much for the young boy, who panicked and started loudly crying and screaming he wanted to return home, which inevitably angered the guards.

"Hey, shut the hell up, you brat!" one of them said as two of them entered the cell to do just that. But Sho had bottled up his fears for far too long, and now that the lid had been pulled, he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "I said, SHUT UP!"

Before things could take a turn for the worst however, Erza suddenly rushed the guard, stealing his spear and knocking in unconscious with it. The other guard drew his sword, but as if answering some unseen signal, Urabrask tackled him, sending him crashing against the wall with such force that he left an imprint before slumping unconscious to the ground.

The other slaves watched gobsmacked, as Erza walked over and grabbed the sword, while Urabrask walked over to her side and asked:

"What will you do now, Erza?"

"We can't be free if we remain here..." the girl answered as she looked at the blade in her hand."And we can't run away. That leaves us with only one option." she turned to the boy and cleaved trough the shackles and chains, then she turned to the other slaves "If we want freedom then we must fight for it. Who's with me?"

"Fine words". Urabrask nodded in approval. "I will fight beside you."

The other slaves seemed hesitant, until one of them walked forward.

"I...I will fight to." Angel said, a surprising amount of steel in the usually shy girl's voice. "I am tired of l-living in fear... I'm tired of just p-p-praying for salvation, so... If the angels won't help, I-I-I will do it myself... I want to help in any way I can."

Urabrask once again nodded in approval and Erza smiled at her friend.

The other kids and Rob immediately joined in, and shortly after the others decided to follow, after all, if the most innocent, shiest girl they had ever met had found the strength to stand and fight, how could they do any less?

/

And so began the rebellion. The cultists, while cruel, were relatively few in number, and quickly found themselves overwhelmed by the slave's onslaught, even with the aid of the guard-beasts. Old man Rob used his magic for the first time in years, the kids had grabbed various weapons dropped by the defeated slavers and Urabrask... well, the trail of broken bodies left in his wake made it very clear he didn't need weapons, Rob actually grew a little concerned at the kid's brutality and ruthlessness.

The slaves were gaining ground, and very quickly they had taken over the courtyard.

"Alright, everyone get to the docks. Prepare the ships so we can leave this place." Erza stated.

"And you?" Urabrask queried.

"I'm going to get Jellal. Then we'll finally be free." Erza said as she prepared to do just that, but then Simon approached. "Erza, wait. Do you like Jellal?"

For obvious and not so obvious reasons, that was one of the last things the redhead was expecting to hear, and with a quick glance to the other redhead beside her, who had his head tilted to the side in confusion, she blushed and stammered: "W-w-what?! Now's not the time for tha..."

"Look, Erza, there's something I wanted to say..." Before the boy could go any further, a fireball appeared out of nowhere and slammed into his jaw, blowing him back, much to the shock of those around him.

"Simon" Erza cried out.

"Crap! They're bringing out the mages!"

"We can't fight them!"

"Retreat!" "Run!" "We're doomed!"

And just like that, despite Erza's best efforts, the slaves' morale broke, and as the

mage cultist rained down hell on them, they fled for their lives.

"Erza, look out!" That shout, surprisingly enough, had come from Urabrask. Erza turned to see a fireball that she wouldn't be able to dodge in time...

A bright flash, a loud explosion, and when the dust settled, Rob stood in front of the young girl, badly burned.

"So in the end, an old geezer like me could still do something..."

"Old man...?" A shocked Erza asked. The man fell forward.

"Old man Rob!" she cried out in alarm, Urabrask and Angel joining her as she reached and turned him.

"Don't be sad..." He said weakly to the crying girls, while the boy looked very, very confused. "If this is the end.. then I couldn't imagine a better way to go...than by saving someone else... Angel..." He looked at the girl. " You are much, much stronger than... most would think...and it showed today... keep fighting... for what you believe in..."

The sobbing girl nodded, clinging to the boy beside her.

"Urabrask, please look after them... and live the long, happy life that's been denied to you..."

The boy had no idea what in name of the Father was going on, but he nodded nonetheless.

" And Erza... you were a light... shining in the darkness... of this place... I never believed... I'd see a smile like yours here..."

The girl could only cry.

"All of you... have unlimited... potential... whatever your... choices... you will … achieve... your...dreams. ...be...free..." Rob, the proud mage of Fairy Tail, went silent.

And that silence seemed to spread over the entire battlefield, broken only by the sobs of the girls. Not understanding the situation, Urabrask spoke:

"Old man, get up." He started shaking the body, wondering why he wasn't responding.

"It's no use Urabrask...H-h-he's dead..." Angel said between sobs.

That baffled the boy. That was it? "And why would that be a problem? Why isn't he rising?"

With a great deal of patience, the girl answered "U-Urabrask, when people die... they don't come back..."

What? That couldn't possibly be right. Death wasn't an end... Was it? Why did he even think that? What was happening?!

Was Old man Rob... truly gone?

While this was happening, Erza had expirienced several flashbacks of her time with the kind geezer. She had promised she would get him out of here, but that was now impossible...

"Guys!" Wally reached them "Come on, we need to get Simon to somwhere sa..."

"OLD MAN ROB!" Erza suddenly cried out as a great power spike was felt, and a large glowing rune appeared beneath her. Slowly, the swords, axes and other weapons littered across the battlefield rose from the ground, and started floating around the girl, to the surprise of everyone watching.

"She unlocked her magic..." Angel whispered in awe, while Urabrask was unresponsive, still mulling over the meaning of what he was told.

The blades suddenly lashed out against the slavers, killing many of them, and the slaves once again felt hope.

"Damnit, we're getting slaughtered in here!" The taskmaster in charge shouted. "Bring them out!"

Some of the remaining mages slammed their staves on the ground.

The earth trembled as eight large, towering figures burst forth.

They were humanoid in appearance, almost comically disproportioned, with hulking arms and torsos, thin waists and short, stubby legs, covered with rocky armor with green glowing runes and baleful red eyes. Blades lashed out at them but most fell to ground when they came near, and the few that didn't simply bounced off the armor.

"Ahahahah! Don't waste your time, girl! We made these golems specifically to counter magic users, in case the island was found. You have no chance against them!" The man shouted gleefully.

Erza gritted her teeth in frustration. Damnit, not now, not when they were so close to freedom...

Suddenly, a new wave of power was felt, this one much larger, almost a tangible presence, and an inhuman roar echoed across the battlefield, everyone looking at the source in shock.

/

Urabrask was angry.

The Old man, a being who had been nothing but kind to him, a being who had taught him what that even meant, a person he would consider a friend, had been erased from existence.

Someone was going to pay.

/

A maelstrom of crimson energy, crackling with red lightning, surrounded him, a fiery glow coming from within his chest. Angel and Erza watched astonished as a mark was branded upon the flesh of his left forearm.

A crimson circle with a line going vertically trough it, both with a jagged outline.

But what surprised them the most was his face, for his eyes were also glowing bright red, and his usually blank expression had turned into a sneer of pure rage.

The maelstrom died down, but the power continued to rise. The nearest golem seemed to realize the threat and stomped forward to terminate it.

The glow inside his chest increased, and the boy spoke, spoke words that he had never heard before, but that came to the forefront of his mind, words that his enemies for years to come would learn to fear.

"**Red Praetor's Edict!"**

A cone of ruinous crimson surged forward, engulfing the golem and some of the cultists behind it, and causing a massive explosion. When the dust settled, only a pile of rubble was left.

And with another inhuman roar, Urabrask charged forward, fists crackling with the strange crimson energy, and this broke Erza out of her shock, as she followed after him, sword in hand.

/

'They're both capable of using magic.' Angel thought in wonder as she witnessed the fight. Urabrask tore into the golems with savage fury, having already destroyed two more, his blows seemed incredibly damaging to the constructs for some reason, while Erza had taken advantage of the distraction to strike at the shocked spellcasters.

But there were still too many enemies for just the two of them. They were beginning to tire, the battles of the day taking their toll on them. Soon, Angel noticed a small group of cultists gaining some distance from the duo, and watched them prepare a spell, that would not doubt kill her friends if cast.

'No... I've got to do something! But what? I can't use magic... I can't do anything... I'm useless...'

_What if you had power?_

'What?' The confused girl thought. 'Who said that?'

_If you had power, would you use it to help them? Even if it cost you your life? _

The girl didn't know who was talking, but she didn't hesitate to answer.

'… Yes... Yes I would. These people... they saved me. They gave me hope when no one else would. If it meant saving them, I would gladly give my life!'

_And that... makes you worthy._

Yet another surge of power was felt that day, but where the first had been raw power, and the second chaotic fury, this one was a warm, golden light, a light that enveloped the white haired girl.

_You prayed to us for help, for salvation._

_We did not answer, for you thought only of yourself, and that was leading you towards a dark path._

_But in the end, salvation came... from a most unlikely source..._

Somehow, she understood the voice was talking about Urabrask.

_Your friend... comes from a very dark place. That darkness clings to him like a shroud._

_But it does not control him. _

_For his actions towards you and others, we give him the benefit of the doubt._

_Help him find the way, just like he helped you._

The girl didn't quite understand most of that, but still she nodded.

_You have earned our blessing. If ever you need us, you have but to ask, and we will answer the call, free of charge._

_Now seems to be an appropriate time, doesn't it?_

Angel brought her hands together in prayer.

"Come forth..."

The light intensified.

"Kushiel!"

A mighty flash, and a figure appeared above her.

A white, faceless humanoid, alabaster wings on his back and a golden spiral ornament in his left arm.

The girl pointed at the stunned mages. "Stop them, please."

The being nodded his consent, a whip of golden flame appeared in his hand, and it was immediately put to use smiting the wicked.

Between the telekinetic sword-wielder, the crimson wrecking ball, and the Angel of Punishment, the cultists quickly realised they were screwed.

/

After the incredibly short fight, Kushiel faded away and Urabrask calmed down, him and Angel leading the slaves to the ships, while Erza went to get Jellal.

Everything was ready to go, but the girl was taking a long time, much to her friends' concern.

Eventually, the other two magic-wielders decided to follow after her.

/

Erza wondered where it had all gone wrong.

She had reached Jellal, beating a few cultists along the way, finding him bound, bruised and bleeding. She had immediately released him, gleefully telling him they were finally free.

But this was not the Jellal she knew.

A cruel smile on his face as he killed the beaten cultmaster, he claimed that the freedom she sought was false, and that he would continue the cultists work, ressurect Zeref, and achieve true freedom.

And that was how she now found herself being strangled by shadows he had conjured.

"J-Jellal, please... come to your senses..."

"Still going on about that? How annoying. Maybe I should kill you right now..."

Before he could deliver on that threat, a crimson glowing fist slammed into his face, sending flying and causing the shadows to vanish.

When he managed to get back to his feet and shake the blurryness off his field of vision, he saw Angel helping Erza up, and a scowling Urabrask standing between him and the girls.

"What is the meaning of this, Jellal?"

"Eh,I should have known you were going to show up." The blue-haired boy said with a cold smile as he rubbed the blood dripping from his mouth away. "Urabrask, the meaning of this is that I finally saw the light. These cultists were morons, keeping us in the dark. If they had told us what exactly they intended to do with this tower, we would have willingly helped them." He spread his arms in a wide gesture "Like I told Erza, I will finish what they started. I will use the Tower to ressurect Zeref, and trough Zeref, Peace will finally be achieved!"

"After all the suffering you witnessed, all the suffering you went trough, you would inflict more suffering on others?" A unbelieving Angel voiced her thoughts.

Jellal scoffed "Don't be stupid, fearful, mistreated slaves aren't productive at all. No, I will explain to them my reasons, provide them with the things that they've been denied for so long, and they will serve willingly." Another cold smile. "What about you? Will you help the world achieve true Paradise?"

Urabrask frowned. Whatever this thing was... it was not his friend. The girls thought the same, and so he voiced their collective decision.

"We are leaving, Jellal."

"Figures..." The boy sighed."Fine, you are free to go... but the others will stay. They are mine now. And if you try to warn the magic council, or any of the light guilds, I will kill them all, starting with Sho and the others. So go then, go rejoice in your insignificant freedom, knowing the fate of those you care about is in your hands!"

His maniacal, mocking laughter would haunt Erza's dreams for years to come.

**Sometime later, in a beach on the coast of Fiore**

A small raft hit the the sands, and two girls got off from it,while the red-headed boy who pushed it all the way here walked out of the water.

The mood was somber, but Erza was by far taking it the hardest.

"It's not fair... It's just not fair..."

"Erza" Angel said sadly.

The girl finally couldn't take it anymore, and let out a loud, anguished cry.

Witnessing their despair, Urabrask vowed to himself that someday, somehow, he would make things right.

_**And that's that.**_

_**You have now seen what's going to be Urabrask's signature spell, what do you think?**_

_**If you'd like to see what Kushiel looks like, check it out at the Shin Megami Tensei wiki, and expect most of Angel's summons to be... well angels, from other series.**_

_**Next chapter we'll have a timeskip, and a few flashbacks.**_

_**See you guys then :) .**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Well folks, here I am with a new chapter of An End to Corrosion, the one where we finally begin the Fairy Tail storyline.**_

_**Now, to answer some reviews:**_

_**Theburper: Yeah, someone else is going to take Angel's place, I got something special planned for the whole Nirvana arc. Also, your name's funny.**_

_**thelonewander117: That's what I was trying to go for m8, Urabrask's main approach to fighting is going to be "hit'em hard and hit'em fast".**_

_**Guest: Why thank you m8, hope it lives up to your expectations.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Magic the Gathering, Fairy Tail, or any other series that might be referenced.**_

_**Now, let's get on with it.**_

_**/**_

_Flashback_

_**The Fairy Tail Guildhall, X776**_

_Ten year old Gray Fullbuster hadn't been having a good day. In fact, between being chased by rabid dogs, falling in ditches, loosing his wallet, dropping his ice-cream, and getting in trouble with the civillians because of his clothes-stripping habits, he could say he was having a pretty crappy day. And that was why once he entered the Guild's headquarters, he had asked Cana Alberona, the only other member his age and a card magic user, to try and see his future in the cards._

_The brunette's reading hadn't been quite what he was expecting._

"_Corrosion is coming? What the hell kinda fortune is that? You sure those things are working right?" The boy grumbled, I mean, seriously, what the heck was that supposed to mean? "Do it over."_

"_Already did, it said the same thing, and it probably won't change no matter how many times I do it. Something is coming, something strong... and probably dangerous." The girl was somewhat aprehensive of what she had seen in the cards._

"_That's a load of Bull, you just don't want to admit you suck at this."_

"_Oh is that right, Mr. Wise Guy? Then maybe you should try it and see...what..happens..." The words dies in her mouth as she looked behind him, causing him to turn._

_Suddenly, the Hall fell silent, as all the present guild members noticed the trio of children that had just opened the door, wearing nothing but rags and looking like they hadn't eaten in days._

"_So, this is the place Old man Rob told us about..." The redhead girl with an eye-patch muttered as she looked around._

"_S-seems like it. We finally made it." The white haired girl replied, shyly glancing this way and that from behind the third kid._

_And this was the one that caused everyone's eyes to fall on them, not because of his own lifeless grey ones, nor because of his rusty red, metallic looking hair, but because of the crap-ton of scars that marred his body, dark, ugly criss-crossing lines upon his unnaturaly pale skin._

_What the hell had happened to these kids?_

_As they looked around, or at least the girls did, an old, balding, ridiculously short man wearing something that slightly resembled a jester's hat approached them. This was Makarov Dreyar, the leader of the Guild._

"_Hello there, children. Is there something you need?" He asked in a friendly, concerned manner._

"_Greetings, Short old man. We have come seeking to join the Fairy Tail guild as ...Old man Rob suggested we do." was the boy's monotone reply, shocking many of the guild members with the way he had adressed the master._

_Makarov's eyebrow twitched, but he let it slide, since it didn't seem like the kid meant to be disrespectful, and replied. "Old man Rob, eh? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a while. How's he doing? I haven't heard news from him in ages."_

"_He's dead." The boy's bluntness surprised him, as did the scowl on his face, which he knew was meant for him, even if the kid wasn't looking directly at him for some reason, but seeing how the girl's mood soured, he understood that they weren't happy with the reminder._

"_I... I am sorry to hear that... He was a good friend, almost like a brother to me..." The Old man said sadly. "And you say he suggested you join? Well then I'd be happy to oblige. What are your names, children?"_

"_Erza. Erza Scarlet..."_

"_I-I'm Angel Weiss..."_

"_My name is Urabrask."_

_/_

_**Sometime later, at the treehouse of Porlyusica, Fairy Tail's Medicinal Advisor**_

"_So what have we got, Porlyusica?" Makarov asked with some concern._

_The Pink-haired elderly lady sighed "The brats show signs of malnutrition, physical abuse and arduous physical strain, I believe we have a trio of escaped slaves in our hands, Makarov."_

"_I figured as much. For such young children to have to face such ordeals..." The old man shook his head sadly. "Other than that, are there any other problems?"_

"_The white-haired girl seems to be in the best condition, with only a few scars, likely caused by a whip, the redhead is obviously missing an eye, nothing I can't fix, and shows signs of torture. As for the boy..." She hesitated. "Well, you've seen him, Makarov. Kid's a wreck, and I honestly do not know what to make of him."_

"_How so?"_

"_For one, his eyes aren't working, not functional, as he puts it. For all intents and purposes, he's blind, but according to what the girls told me and my own observations, he has a sixth sense, some sort of permanent out-of-body expirience, which gives him perfect awareness of his surroundings. Now, there are some types of magic that serve just that purpose, but that's the thing, he is not using any magic for that, it's a natural bodily function, I've never witnessed something like this before."_

"_Well, that would explain why he doesn't look anyone in the eyes when he talks. What else?"_

"_You've seen the scars, Makarov. Those types of injuries are made to cause the greatest amount of pain possible, the kid shouldn't be moving aroud with such ease, he shouldn't be moving, period, but he somehow is. Either he doesn't feel pain, or he's got a ridiculously high threshold for it. And that takes us to his blood, which isn't really blood, not entirely."_

"_Come again?" The Guilmaster raised an eyebrow._

"_There's something else mixed in, that's what makes his blood, and his scars, so dark. It seems to be some sort of... oil, for a lack of a better term, but whatever kind of function it had, it was rendered inert a long time ago."_

_Porlyusica paused in order to let him take in what was being said._

"_And that leads us to his magic, the most confusing piece of the puzzle. From what I could analise when they made their demonstrations, the way he uses it... well, the best wait to explain it is that, while everyone else draws ethernano from the air, his body filters it, draining only a specific portion to power his magic and leaving the rest. And while he can draw it directly from his surroundings, like everyone else, he also seems capable of creating... bonds with certain places, from which he can draw power even while far away. This is something unheard of in the history of magic. If I had to guess, I'd say the kid was experimented on."_

_That caused Makarov to frown angrily. What sort of monster would do that to a child? _

"_Well, Rob sent those kids to us, so we're going to be the family they need."_

"_More misfits for your little ragtag group, eh?" Porlyusica replied with a slight smirk, to which the man grinned in response "Ya know it!"_

"_Well..." From out of nowhere a broom appeared on the elderly woman's hands, and she waved it threateningly. "Then take your misfits and get out of my house!"_

_/_

**The streets of Magnolia town, x784**

Lucy Heartfillia heaved a long, weary sigh.

After years of being miserable and lonely living with her neglecting father, she had finally gotten the courage to run away about a year ago, and just recently, after shutting down a human traffic operation, she finally achieved her dream of joining a mage's guild.

So what could possibly be the problem, you might ask?

Said guild was crawling with crazy people!

They were reckless, violent, trashed the guild with disturbing regularity, hell, they trashed everything everywhere they went, she sadly learned far too late that any reward from missions would be mostly used for paying the damages, and that's when they didn't screw things up enough for the client to rescind the payment, and judging by the way they kept breaking into her house, they had no freaking sense of privacy!

And she somehow ended up teaming up with the worst one of the bunch, the Fire Dragonslayer Natsu Dragneel.

She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had this much fun, even if she could do without the more dangerous parts.

They had just returned from one such mission, where they had fought a corrupt duke, wrecked his mansion and ended up with no reward to show for it, except for the happyness of their contractor.

She sighed once again "Oh maaaaan, if this keeps up, how am I going to pay my rent?"

"Maybe we could go on that "Troll den extermination" mission?" was the pink-haired blockhead's ever so unhelpful reply, followed as always by an "Aye!" from his sidekick, the blue, winged, talking cat called Happy (yeah,she wasn't going to even try to figure this one out, blame magic).

"I'm not gonna risk my neck against a den of some of the most dangerous monsters around, you morons!" she screamed as she bopped him over the head.

"Oh my, Natsu?" A female voice said from behind them.

They both turned, and Lucy's eyes widened.

Aproaching them was a young woman, perhaps somewhat older than she was, with purple eyes, long white hair that reached her tailbone, with two tresses framing her face and another piece shooting upwards and curling, giving the appearance of a halo. She was wearing a white metallic ribbon, and a set of long sleeved white and black robes with golden decorations, two golden chains coming from her waist down to an ornament around the knee area. The smile on her serene, beautiful face could only be described as heavenly.

"I knew it was you, also back from a mission, are we?"

The dragonslayer grinned at the newcomer "Hya Angel! You know it, me and Luigi just kicked some serious butt!"

Angel blinked in confusion. "Luigi?"

Lucy hit him again. "It's Lucy, you moron!"

"Oh my, we have a new member?" She said as she looked at the blonde. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. I'm Angel Weiss, pleased to meet you."

Lucy's eyes widened so much they threatened to fall out her sockets. Angel Weiss, known as "The Holy Maiden of Fairy Tail", widely considered to be one of the most powerful female mages of the guild, an idol for any girls aspiring to become mages, such as herself, stood before her.

"L-L-Lucy Heartfillia, It's an honor to meet you!" She exclaimed, shining stars in her eyes indicating she had entered fangirl mode.

The white-haired girl giggled. "My, My, such enthusiasm. I think you're going to fit right in. So, what sort of crazy stuff did Natsu here drag you into?"

/

**Sometime later, at the Guild's Headquarters**

Lucy wasn't quite sure what was happening.

For a while, things had been going as usual, Natsu and Gray getting into an argument that quickly escalated into an all-out bar brawl between several of the guild members, then Loke, the resident Casanova, had tried to flirt with her, only to run crying for mamma when he learned she was a celestial spirit mage, and shortly after running back into the guild, screaming that "she" was back.

This set off a chain reaction as everyone except for herself, Angel, and the acting barmaid sisters, Mirajane and Lisanna Strauss, panicked, either running around like headless chickens, diving for cover under the tables or begging on their knees for Angel to protect them.

"Wwwwhat's going on?" She asked confused to Lisanna, to which the white-haired blue-eyed girl replied dissmissively. "Oh nothing bad, it's just that Erza's returned, and she's a very strict person, they're just overreacting a little."

After a few more moments of panic, the door opened, and in walked a young woman with long scarlet hair, wearing a strange combination of plate armor and a blue skirt... carrying a decorated horn at least five times her size.

"Welcome back, Erza. I'm glad to see you're well." Angel greeted brightly.

The redhead noticed her and smiled. "Hello Angel, it's nice to be back." She replied as she placed the horn on the ground with a loud thud, causing everyone around to jump slightly.

"Erza, what's that?" Someone nervously asked.

"The horn of the beast I had to deal with for the mission. The villagers were grateful, so they adorned it and insisted I keep as a gift." Her face grew stern. "But never mind that, I heard you guys have been causing trouble again."

And with that, she proceeded to tear nearly everyone in the Guildhall a verbal new one,

until finally Angel took pity on them and decided to intervene.

"Now, now, Erza, no need to be so harsh, you know they can't help it." Everyone around looked at her like she was a gift from God.

"Hmmf, and you're not harsh enough... anyway, is the Master here?"

Mirajane replied. "No, he left for the Regular Meeting of the guildmasters."

"I see..." She turned thoughtfull for a while. "Angel, I'm going to need your help with something. Natsu, Gray you guys as well."

That caused everyone to start whispering. Erza and Angel worked together quite often, so no surprises there, but for her to request the help of those two... must be something serious.

"Also, where's Urabrask?"

Lucy blinked. What's with the strange name, even if it did sound kinda familiar?

"I was actually wondering that myself." Angel replied as they both turned to Mirajane for answers.

The barmaid gave a small giggle and said: "Oh, you know him, unless either of you is around, he prefers to stay at the foundry. Too much "Father-forsaken" noise, he says, whatever that means."

Angel sighed. "That sounds like him, alright."

"Well, let's go get him then. Natsu, Gray, go pack your things. We'll be leaving first thing in the morning."

The two tried to protest, Natsu in particular seemed extremely reluctant to go on a mission with Ice-stripper and "that" guy, but a glare from Erza sent them running to their homes to obey. Lucy finally managed to ask:

"Hmm, Who's Urabrask?" This earned her the redhead's attention, causing her to flinch.

"And you are?"

Angel answered for her. "This is Lucy Heartfillia. She's a new member, but she already has an impressive track record, at least at putting up with Natsu." she giggled.

"Ah, pleased to meet you then."

"L-likewise."

"Come to think of it, you haven't met Urabrask yet, have you?" Angel asked, to which Lucy shook her head. "Well, then come with us, we'll introduce you."

"Ok..."

And with that. The three women left the guild, heading towards the western end of the town. After a while, Lucy had to ask: "So... this Urabrask is another guild member, and he works in a foundry?"

Erza answered. "Yes, Urabrask is one of the more powerful mages we have, there's actually been some debate about whether or not he's the strongest, even though he denies it."

That caused the blonde's eyes to widen, as she finally remembered where she had heard the name before. Urabrask, the mage more widely known as the Red Praetor of Fairy Tail, voted the most mysterious wizard by Sorcerer Magazine . And she was about to meet him.

"And not only does he work at the foundry, he also lives there."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "He lives at a foundry? Why?"

Angel laughed lightly. "Well, you see..."

_Flashback_

_**The streets of Magnolia, a few weeks after the first flashback**_

_Makarov sighed._

_It had taken a hell of a lot of arguing and what not, but he had finally managed to convince Angel and Erza that Urabrask couldn't live with them at the girls only Fairy Hills dormitory, but now he had to find a home for the boy._

_Which led him to his current predicament, because the damn brat was picky as all hell._

_Everything was either too noisy, too white, or too cold. Hell, he had been forced to restrain the kid with his titan magic to stop him from demolishing one of the places, because of the porcelain decorations of all things, he sincerely hoped that didn't become a recurring problem._

_And so here they were, wandering around town looking for a good home, when suddenly Urabrask stopped, he had heard something that sounded... familiar._

_Suddenly the boy shot off in a random direction, the surprised girls and Old Man quickly following. Eventually, he had led them to the old scrapyard, crossing the junk-filled courtyard and entering the large warehouse._

_Inside, a small group of men seemed to be having problems with some machinery, a large rectangular machine with a conveyor belt going trough it. Phillip, the man in charge and a friend of Makarov, noticed their entrance._

"_Makarov! It's been a while, wasn't expecting a visit from you... And I see you've brought company."_

_Urabrask completely ignored everything that was being said, as he approached the machine with a curious look on his face and a slightly tilted head._

"_Ah, curious about that, are you lad? Old Clementine over here is used to recycle the metal pieces of magical vehicles, communication devices and other such gyzmos, melting them down and spitting out clean metal bars. Unfortunately, she hasn't been working so well lately, and nothing we do seems to work. At this rate, we'll have to shut the place down..." He finished sadly, he had been working here for nearly 45 years, guess time caught up even to machines._

_Urabrask once again didn't pay attention, putting a hand on the smooth metallic surface... And beginning to climb it with all the ease of a lizard, occasionally stopping, hearing for something inside the machine._

_The workers and Makarov barely had the time to gawk in surprise before the boy suddenly punched a hole in the metal and jumped trough it._

_For the next few minutes, the sounds of metal hitting metal, getting bent out of shape and being superheated by flames were heard from the inside, and has the boy crawled out, the machine sprang to life._

_Everyone stared in shock, the adults because of the feat they had just seen performed, and the two girls because, for the first time since they've met him, Urabrask had the ghost of a smile on his face._

_Flashback end_

"... And so they let Urabrask live there, and once Old man Philip retired, he took over the operations. Magnolia actually became known for having the most efficient scrapyard in the kingdom." Angel finished explaining just as they arrived at the place.

As they entered the property, a low, robotic growl caused Lucy to jump in fright, and from behind a large pile of scrap, a golden robot that looked like a skeletal panther with red glowing chest and eyes appeared glaring at them threateningly. Lucy was about ready to turn tail and run, but the other two didn't even bat an eye.

"Slash, down." Angel said, and finally recognising the two, the construct merely returned to it's spot.

"Wha... wha... what the heck was that?"

"Oh, that was Slash, short for Slash Panther, he's one of Urabrask creations and acts as a guard dog for the scrapyard. He's quite good at building robots, even if they do look frightening most of the time." Erza explained.

Lucy gulped, and as they moved trough the piles of metal, witnessed several such constructs, all made of scrap themselves, gathering metal to bring to the warehouse they were heading towards.

Soon they entered the large building. The inside was strange, with a jagged design that seemed completely alien to her, and in some sort of workshop in the corner, a young man seemed to be fiddling with a clawed robotic arm as large as he was tall, his back turned to them.

The guy seemed to be a bit on the short side, with shoulder length rusty red hair , and was wearing a long sleeved red shirt that seemed to be a size too big, loose grey pants and brown boots. Sensing their presence, he stopped his work and turned, revealing a pale face, blank expression, and grey eyes to the girl that wasn't familiar with him, who also noticed that beneath the shirt, he was wearing a chainmail.

"Ah, Angel, Erza, I'm am glad to see you've made it back safely." His voice was low, raspy and to Lucy seemed to completely lack emotion.

Both girls seemed to brighten up after seeing him.

"Hi, Urabrask, it's nice to see you to." Angel said with a smile a magnitude more beautiful than the one she had earlier.

"Yeah, same here." Erza said as she also smiled beautifully, not one to be outdone.

"And who might this be?" Lucy didn't even have time to wonder about the feeling of being watched, before Angel once more answered for her, her tone somewhat chiding. "This here is Lucy Heartfillia, she joined us recently, which you would've known if you weren't holed up here all the time."

Erza joined in. "I have to agree, you really should try to get along with the others more, Urabrask."

"The amount of noise they manage to produce is well above the level I can tolerate, besides which I have little patience for Laxus' arrogance and Natsu's skitishness." Lucy didn't notice any change in tone or demeanor, but for Erza and Angel, who had known him for years, he was practically pouting. "But back to the matter at hand, greetings Lucy Heartfillia. As I'm sure you know, I am Urabrask, and I look forward for working with you in the future."

"Hhmm hey... same here." This guy was weird, but of a different variety of "weird" than the other guild members.

"Now, while you visit often, I doubt you came here merely to introduce us."

"You're right." Erza turned serious. "On my way back from my mission, I heard something that could mean serious trouble for the guild, so I decided to come ask for assistance before acting on it."

"I see, and who did you ask besides myself?"

"Angel here, of course, and Natsu and Gray as well."

"That's an awful lot of fire power... and did Natsu really agree or did you just threaten him to go?"

"That's irrelevant, we're dealing with something potentially very dangerous here Urabrask, I'll need all the help I can get."

Urabrask tilted his head. Erza wasn't arrogant by any means, but admiting she wouldn't be able to handle something was extremely unnusual, and more than enough to convince him.

"Very well, I will go. Just give me some time to pack up some essentials."

The girls once again graced him with a smile. "Of course, me and Angel will be packing up as well. Meet us tomorrow at the train station first thing in the morning. But now..."

The two grabbed him by the shoulders. "You are coming to the guild to socialize with the others." They said with a tone of finality.

And so they dragged off the hapless Praetor, Lucy following after them, feeling like a fourth wheel.

/

_**And that's that.**_

_**About Angel's last name... I'll admit, not the most original idea I've had, but it seemed fitting. Also, her robes are a slightly altered version of the vestments of the Avatar from World of Warcraft, check wowhead if you're curious.**_

_**Next chapter will begin the Eisenwald arc, but the next few updates will be to my other story, Beneath a Broken Moon, so see you guys there.**_


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